Reeling 29: The Chicago International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival offered plenty of great screenings of features and shorts. Here are a couple of reviews from the festival.
You Will Be Mine
Described in its synopsis as “Single White Female with baguettes and berets,” Sophie Laloy’s You Will Be Mine (France) is an intense and uncomfortable cinematic experience. The film focuses on Marie (the very Liv Tylerish Judith Davis), a young woman who has just arrived in Lyons to attend a special piano conservatory. Marie is moving in with Emma (Isild Le Besco), an old friend with whom Marie may or may not have had a romantic past. Although Marie seems tempted by Emma at first, the tables quickly turn when Emma becomes creepily infatuated and possessive. A “Misery” esque situation ensues, driving both Emma and Marie to the cusp of insanity and murder.
Unfortunately, I have quite an array of problems with You Will be Mine. First of all, I would have loved to know what Emma and Marie’s relationship had been when they knew each other in the past. Too much is left to mystery that really could have cleared up some plot issues. My biggest annoyance, however, came in the fact that Emma is made out to be a crazy lustful lesbian who needs a vast amount of therapy while Marie, the straight/maybe bisexual protagonist, is the innocent damsel in distress. Being at a Lesbian and Gay film festival, I expected more than something you could catch in a stereotypical Lifetime movie. Luckily, the acting overcame the many failures annoyance. Davis is properly conflicted as Marie and manages to make her annoyance with Emma grow at a steady, building pace. Davis also deserves kudos for playing the piano herself throughout the film. Besco’s Emma is properly off-kilter and disturbed, although I would have preferred to see her less demonic and more humanized. You Will Be Mine wasn’t awful, but its character development and characterization could certainly have used a more LGBT friendly makeover.
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Leading Ladies
At first I was confused by Daniel Erika Randall Beahm’s Leading Ladies, with its semi-low budget and theatrical acting that often seems to over-the-top to be believed. Then I realized everything I at first confused as in-your-face dramatic is exactly (at least I hope) what the directors intended, and actually made the film much more enjoyable. Leading Ladies tells the story of a family consisting of two close sisters and their typical stage-mom, Sheri (Melanie LaPatin), who has been training the girls as ballroom dancers since birth. Tasi (Shannon Lea Smith), the eldest, is attempting to go pro with her partner, the very openly gay Cedric (Benji Schwimmer), while Toni (Laurel Vail) watches from the sidelines without any real life of her own. However, all of this changes when Toni finds a dance and romantic partner in Mona (Nicole Dionne), a cute girl Toni meets at an eccentric dance club. Chaos ensues as secrets build, and soon dancing becomes the only way to keep the family together.
Leading Ladies may be a broad comedy, but it also features many serious and realistic moments that give it a heartfelt gravity. Yes, the colorful dialogue can get a bit tiresome, but it also gives way to many cute little moments, some that even drew audible laughter out of me. The film’s highlights were definitely the choreographed dance scenes that allowed the characters to connect with each other on a stronger emotional level. Schwimmer, while a bit too hammy as an actor, stands out as a dancer extraordinaire, and his duet at the dance club is a major high point.
Leading Ladies essentially teaches the cliched lesson that family is important, but its unique portrayal brings something new to the table. There is never a moment when the actors don’t seem to be having fun, whether they’re dancing on a stage or brushing their teeth in unison. LaPatin often exceeds the limits of drama queen as Sheri, but Smith is appropriate showy as Tasi, and Vail carries the film nicely as Toni, a hopeless downer whose heart is opened by love. Leading Ladies may not be hugely realistic, but it certainly never fails to entertain and left me with a smile.
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